This invention relates to a pocket-sized checkbook which simultaneously records a checking transaction while a check is written.
In the banking industry two commonly used means for carrying checks in pocket-sized form are a register-type checkbook and a stub-type checkbook. A register-type checkbook ordinarily comprises a cover having two pockets, a set of checks having a back flap for insertion into one such pocket, and a separate check register in which a number of checks may be recorded having a flap for insertion into the other pocket. In contrast, a stub-type checkbook usually comprises simply a cover and a set of checks which are tightly held in the cover by a spring clip, each check having a stub attached to the end thereof for recording a single transaction.
When writing a check, in a supermarket for example, it is frequently physically inconvenient and inordinately time consuming subsequently to record the transaction on a stub or separate check register. As a result, checking transactions are sometimes recorded incorrectly or not recorded and later forgotten, which leads to accounting inconsistencies. In any case, it would be beneficial to have a portable, pocket-sized checkbook wherein the checking transaction is automatically recorded at the same time that the check is written so that such inconvenience is eliminated and checking errors are minimized.
Pocket-sized checkbooks previously have been designed for simultaneously recording a checking transaction while writing a check. For example, Moss U.S. Pat. No. 3,254,906 discloses a checkbook wherein a record sheet is provided with vertically arranged spaces for recording successive checking transactions and a plurality of checks are disposed in front of the record sheet with a carbon sheet sandwiched in between. Each successive check includes a horizontal line of spaces or boxes of identifying information lower than its predecessor check so that, as the checks are written, certain identification information is duplicated in successively lower spaces on the record sheet. While this checkbook performs the function of automatically recording a checking transaction, it presents a drawback in that several different types of checks must be printed, each having its identification line in a different vertical position. Moreover, the user is faced with the inconvenience of having to fill in differently positioned spaces for each successive check which he writes. Also, intensity of the record for each successive check will be greater so as to make it difficult for the user to know how hard to write in order to be certain that all transactions are visibly recorded.
Several other types of checkbooks which have been designed for simultaneous recording of a checking transaction while a check is written, such as those disclosed in the Donovan U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,620,553 and 3,734,543, provide separate record sheets for each check; but such arrangements are inconvenient since they require storage of a large number of record sheets and reference to separate record sheets in order to determine how much money has been spent or to compute a balance or the like. A number of accounting systems have also been devised for simultaneously filling in checks or other documents while making a permanent record in which the documents are vertically offset from one another; however, none of these has been devised which is for use as a pocket-sized checkbook.